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Satanic Rites of Dracula, The
Category:Films | running time = 87 min. | country = UK | language = English | budget = | gross revenue = | preceded by = Dracula A.D. 1972 | followed by = Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires }} The Satanic Rites of Dracula is a British horror film directed by Alan Gibson and written by Don Houghton. It is the eighth Dracula film produced by Hammer Film Productions and the sixth and final film to feature actor Christopher Lee in the role of Dracula. The movie co-stars Lee's ubiquitous foil Peter Cushing, once again reprising his role as a member of the esteemed Van Helsing family. This is the second of Hammer's Dracula films to take place in the modern era and it follows the events of 1972's aptly titled Dracula A.D. 1972. Hammer's next foray into the world of Dracula following this production is the 1974 movie Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires. Plot In late November of 1974 a British under cover agent known as Hanson tries to infiltrate a Satanic cult that is thriving at the Pellam House. The Pellam House is also known as the Psychic Investigations and Research Group (PIRG), and is allowed to conduct its affairs with minimal scrutiny. Hanson discovers that many of the cultists are some of London's most distinguished citizens. A priestess known as Chin Yang conducts most of the cult's affairs. Hanson is discovered and is beaten up and confined to a small room. Near death, he barely manages to escape killing two guards in the process. Meanwhile, Chin Yang continues her Satanic ritual, which includes the slaying of a cockerel and the sacrifice of a young woman (presumably a virgin). Before long, the dying Hanson makes his way back to Inspector Murray at Scotland Yard. He dies before revealing too much information, but he has photographs he had taken of important Londoners seen entering the Pellam House. Murray decides to contact the distinguished occult academic, Larimer Van Helsing. Van Helsing and his granddaughter Jessica realize that this Satanic cult may be responsible for resurrecting the lord of the vampires known as Count Dracula. Van Helsing also recognizes one of the men in the photograph, Professor John Keely. He visits the Nobel Prize winning physicist only to discover that Keely is irrevocably mad. Keely has managed to recreate the bacteria necessary to produce the Bubonic plague. Completely unhinged, Keely hangs himself before Van Helsing can do anything to stop him. Upon further investigation, Van Helsing deduces that Dracula has assumed the guise of eccentric London millionaire, D. D. Denham. As Denham, Dracula plans on using Keely’s virus to destroy the world’s population. Dracula has become rather fatalistic by this point and he longs for death. But he will not go quietly. If he is to die, then he is bringing the world down with him. Inspector Murray and Jessica investigate the Pellam House while Larimer is attempting to contact Denham. They find a cellar beneath the cultist's property containing a room full of vampire women chained to the wall. Murray is nearly bitten by succeeds in escaping. Meanwhile, Jessica is captured once again and brought before Count Dracula. Eventually everything comes together and we have Van Helsing squaring off against Dracula with the unconscious Jessica Van Helsing lying nearby. Dracula reveals how he plans on using his contacts within the cult as the Four Horsemen of his Apocalypse. One of the cultists has a change of heart and crushes the vial containing the plague in his hand. He instantly begins suffering its effects as blisters and boils begin appearing all over his body. He soon dies and Dracula and Van Helsing carry their fight outside. As Van Helsing is fleeing Dracula, he notices a thicket of Hawthorne bushes and recalls that Hawthorne has a biblical significance. Since the crown of thorns worn by Christ on the day of the crucifixion was made of Hawthorne, it stands to reason that Hawthorne would be anathema to a vampire as well. Van Helsing goads Dracula into the thorny brambles, and the vampire realizes a moment too late how trapped he is becoming. He eventually fights his way through, but is completely tangled up in the branches. Taking advantage of the situation, Van Helsing breaks loose a piece of fence post and drives it deep into Dracula’s heart, destroying the vampire for good. Cast Notes & Trivia * Copyright: 1973, Hammer Film Productions Limited. All rights reserved. * Production on The Satanic Rites of Dracula began on November 18th, 1972 and concluded on December 30th, 1972. * Warner Bros. currently holds the copyright to The Satanic Rites of Dracula. * Warner Bros. released The Satanic Rites of Dracula in the United States in October of 1978. It was re-released in November of that same year. * Was one of the featured films on the cable access showcase series Saturday Night Dead. * Lee was originally asked to reprise the role of Dracula for Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires, but backed out after reviewing the script treatment, which he disliked immensely. The Dracula role in that film is played by John Forbes-Robertson. * Director Alan Gibson also directed two episodes of Hammer House of Horror. He directed "The Silent Scream" and "The Two Faces of Evil". * This is the first horror film with Roy Skeggs as a producer. * Actor Peter Cushing's character is credited as just Van Helsing in the closing credits. His first name, Lorrimer, is provided in the actual film itself. Fun Facts * The tagline for this film is, "Evil begets evil on the Sabbath of the undead!" * This is the second of two films in the Hammer Horror Dracula series that takes place in the modern era. The first one was Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972). * This is the only film in the classic Hammer Horror series to show female topless nudity. * The plot description under the DVD release of the film (under the title Dracula: The Satanic Rites) states that Lorrimer Van Helsing is an ancestor of the original Van Helsing. This is inaccurate. He is actually a descendant. * During the opening credits, the shadow outline of Dracula can be seen super-imposed on the screen. Redirects The following links all redirect to this page. * Srod * Satanic Rites of Dracula * The Satanic Rites of Dracula * Dracula: The Satanic Rites * Dracula: The Satanic Rites (1973) * The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973) * Satanic Rites of Dracula, The (1973) Recommendations See also External Links * * * The Satanic Rites of Dracula at Wikipedia * * * * * References Keywords 1970s; Female frontal nudity; Female topless nudity; Smoking Category:1973/Films Category:November, 1973/Films Category:Sequels Category:8th installments Category:Hammer Film Productions Category:Alan Gibson Category:Don Houghton Category:Roy Skeggs Category:John Cacavas Category:Brian Probyn Category:Chris Barnes Category:Christopher Lee Category:Peter Cushing Category:Michael Coles Category:William Franklyn Category:Freddie Jones Category:Joanna Lumley Category:Richard Vernon Category:Barbara Yu Ling Category:Patrick Barr Category:Richard Mathews Category:Lockwood West Category:Valerie Van Ost Category:Maurice O'Connell Category:Peter Adair Category:Maggie Fitzgerald Category:Pauline Peart Category:Finnuala O'Shannon Category:Mia Martin Category:John Harvey Category:Marc Zuber Category:Paul Weston Category:Ian Dewar Category:Graham Rees Category:Films with crew categories Category:Films with plot summaries